The Unassailable Case Against Affordable Housing Mandates
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Description
Current disquiet about the shape of housing markets in the United States has brought forth systematic proposals for their reform. Some of these move in a pro-market direction. These include removing zoning restrictions on new construction in order to increase supply. They also include direct public subsidies for specific classes of housing paid from general public revenues, such as Section 8 Housing, which offers rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of low-income tenants (Housing Act of 1937, 42 U.S.C. § 1437f). As between these two, I prefer the market liberalization because only it can produce the double benefit of lower administrative costs and the expansion of supply. In contrast, direct public subsidies require higher taxes of unknown incidence and severity that generate political controversy and deadweight social losses. This chapter, however, bypasses both these programs to exclusively critique affordable housing mandates for “inclusionary zoning.” These mandates have gained in popularity in recent years, precisely because they do not require any direct appropriation of public funds. In June 2015, a unanimous California Supreme Court, speaking through Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye in California Building Industry Association v. City of San Jose (61 Cal. 4th. 435 (2015)) (CBIA), rebuffed constitutional challenges to the San Jose affordable housing program that “requires all new residential development projects of 20 or more units to sell at least 15 percent of the for-sale units at a price that is affordable to low-or moderate-income households” (CBIA at 442). Those programs are now operative in more than 170 municipalities in California alone (CBIA at 441).
Source Publication
Evidence and Innovation in Housing Law and Policy
Source Editors/Authors
Lee Anne Fennell, Benjamin J. Keys
Publication Date
2017
Recommended Citation
Epstein, Richard A., "The Unassailable Case Against Affordable Housing Mandates" (2017). Faculty Chapters. 366.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/366
